Starting to have trouble grooming my doodle!

[linda giorgi]

Morgans hair is about 3 inches long. Ever since her last grooming it has been hard to keep her tangle free. I invested in the Activet brush hoping it would help. Now matter what I do it is hard to get a brush thru or a comb thru her hair. It is just so thick. Any suggestions? Here is a photo of her.

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Yogi has a very thick coat. I usually "pre brush" him with a CHRIS Christiansen T brush. Then the les pooches brush. Maybe this would help you too

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Did you groom her or did a groomer?  Maybe they used a different product?  On second thought, how old is your doodle?  Is she  mini, medium or standard? Is it possible she is going through a coat change?  Charlie (our med ALD) started having major issues at 6 to 7 months and by 8 months he was in the midst of getting his mature coat. The puppy coat needs to be brush out and even though I had the groomer cut his coat shorter (except for head and tail), I still brushed him twice a day until his mature coat was completely in which took several months it seemed.  Once they do get their mature coat, the brushing and keeping mats at bay is so much easier.  Charlie has an extremely dense wooly fleece coat!  He has twice the hair that Beau does (or maybe it is just a thicker hair shaft!.  Good luck.  You might join the grooming group if you haven't already.  Also Wanda Klomp at Doodlecomfort.com may be able to tell you how to do a thinning scissor cut if you are into grooming her yourself.

[linda giorgi]

Linda, Morgan is 7 months old. I guess she is going thru the coat change.  She also gets knots in her beard. She hates when I brush it. I have to tackel her. 

[Leslie J]

Cocoa has very dense, wavy hair- very similar to Morgan. Her coat is almost impossible to maintain once it gets to be about 3". Now I let the to grow to almost 3" and then I have it cut to 1". The long hair is gorgeous, but trying to keep it long and tangle free would take at least two hours a week and make Cocoa miserable. She has a very high maintenance coat- I had no idea that Labradoodle's required so much grooming before we got her.

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Linda, It looks like Morgan has thick luxurious hair and would be a perfect candidate for the short 1" cut on her back.  Our Sydney get tangles very easily and we discovered the short cut is sooo much easier on us and Sydney.  I love how you have her face opened up so you can see her eyes.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ned has an impossibly thick coat also.  You need to use the brush, then a comb. He mats and has always matted, but it was much worse during the coat change. For overall brushing, my groomer suggested that we spray Ned with a de-tangler the day before brushing in order to let it do its job.  We use Cowboy Magic on bad mats or slice them out.  We also get him groomed about every  4 - 6 weeks so his length never gets too unruly and we avoid any of that too-short shaving.  We had finally been able to brush/comb him weekly or even every two weeks, but we are now back to every few days because of the dry weather.  Ned has a dry coat, so we also give him EPO for his skin.  Ned's worst mats are ears, behind the ears, under the ears, tail, and the joints of his feet (top of his ankle and behind the elbows) so we pay extra attention to those areas and ask our groomer to cut the ear parts shorter.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

 Wow, her coat is really beautiful. I agree that the coat change is probably in progress and this really complicates grooming. Many doodle owners just go for a short cut during this time as it is often kinder for the doodle and the person. Otherwise it is constant tangles and brushing and...well you know!  I tried to keep up with Tara's coat during that time and it was just impossible. Since Morgan is resistant to being brushed (as was Tara) you might consider cutting her down at least somewhat. It doesn't have to be super short, just a more manageable length until her new coat is completely grown out. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

This is how short we had to go on Ned during the 'dreaded coat change'  at 11 months.

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Ned is very cute cut like that. It's hard for doodles not to be cute ;-)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Ned's adorable regardless of the cut! :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We are starting to cut him shorter again - not quite this short, but closer. He is matting a lot again, but also, I do like the look. :-}  To me, Ned adorable, but that's doodles, isn't it?  Just cuties no matter what.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

He really does look cute cut like this and just think of all the time you will save! :)